Jan 22, 2025
What Is Lifestyle Product Photography? Benefits & Best Tips For Stunning Photos
Imagine scrolling through an online store, hunting for the perfect product that matches your style and needs. As you browse the various options, you can't help but notice how some products seem to pop while others fall flat. In most cases, the difference is in eCommerce photography. Lifestyle product photography, in particular, helps tell a story, showing the buyer how the product will fit into their life. This article will share valuable insights about lifestyle product photography, including its benefits and best tips for achieving stunning photos.
Caspa's AI product photography platform can help you reach your goals by generating beautiful lifestyle images to engage your audience and increase sales.
Table of Contents
What is Lifestyle Product Photography?
Lifestyle photography is a genre in which products are highlighted in a social context while conveying a story. It is also known as "in-context photography" because it depicts how a product looks and feels when used in a real-life setting.
Authentic Connections with Consumers
Lifestyle photography aims to persuade customers that a product is worth buying and help them visualize using it daily. Therefore, models, nature, and location play vital roles in forming the aesthetics of this type of photography. Lifestyle product photography can tell a narrative about a product and its brand, making it relatable to consumers’ lifestyles. According to a study by BigCommerce, 78% of online buyers prefer product images that are shown off in real-life settings and appear to be a part of their daily lives, making these types of photos powerful tools.
Types of Lifestyle Product Photography
The popularity of lifestyle product photography has skyrocketed within a short period due to its creative way of showing off your products to customers in the most realistic way. Adding people to the images might be the only thing lifestyle photography involves, but this type of photography goes beyond that. Composing lifestyle shots is primarily concerned with creating a storyline that relates to the product so that viewers feel attracted to the products upon seeing the images and become consumed by the urge to buy them.
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• How to Take the Best Product Photos
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• Midjourney Product Photography
• Ecommerce Product Photos
Why Incorporate Lifestyle Product Photos In Your Business
Customers seek something or someone to connect with in an increasingly fast-paced world. An Instagram feed full of stiff, neutral, and impersonal product photos will no longer be enough to appeal to potential customers. Instead, you should provide an impression of:
Authenticity
Trustworthiness
Transparency
Your customers want to relate to a product or service personally. In other words, they want to feel engaged, involved, and part of something meaningful. Consequently, your brand needs to communicate the feeling that it will be a trustworthy provider for your client’s dreams. Although it has become a platitude, the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words still holds. It does so even more in today’s fast-paced and changing world.
Capture Attention and Build Strong Brand Connections
Continuous change is the only constant; time has become one of the most valuable resources. This is especially true on social media, where only a few people take the time to read reviews. A professional photo will communicate everything your next client needs to know quickly. All it takes is the sheer power of visual language. For a real-life success story, look at Gymshark. The brand used brilliant lifestyle photography to appeal to its target customer base: women who want to look good and feel comfortable while working out. Thus, Gymshark’s images go to great lengths to check all of a potential customer’s boxes.
Showcase Product Solutions and Brand Values
For example, they created detailed images of workout pants with pockets large enough to fit a smartphone. This conveys that working out in Gymshark gear will make your life easier. After all, you will no longer waste time finding a place to put your phone. Gymshark promises its clients that its visual language will solve their problems. At the same time, it sends the message that purchasing its products will make them part of a supportive activewear family. Lifestyle photography lets you communicate your brand’s values and essence by imitating desirable real-life events.
Create Emotional Connection With Your Customers
As Seth Godin once remarked, “People do not buy goods & services. They buy relations, stories and magic.” Thus, emotions play the most crucial role in making decisions and often overrule rational factors. Consequently, appealing to your customer’s emotions and feelings is vital to turn them into loyal, returning customers. Instead of an impersonal client-customer relationship, you want to convey that your brand is a family.
The Emotional Impact of Lifestyle Photography and Its Role in Enhancing Engagement
Similarly to the photos in your grandparents’ house, lifestyle photography will be your most effective choice for conveying these emotions. After all, there is a good reason why emotional marketing is so tightly linked to lifestyle photography. If you need more reasons why lifestyle photography will take your brand to the next level, let these statistics convince you.
Facebook posts that include images achieve 2.3 more engagement than imageless posts. Tweets containing images get retweeted 150% more than tweets without images. 41% of people prefer to see visual content by brands. The most preferred Instagram stories feature short narrative stories with pictures. 65% of marketers agree that media, including photos, is essential for communicating a brand’s message.
Caspa AI: Revolutionizing eCommerce Product Photography with Seamless, Cost-Effective Solutions
Caspa helps eCommerce brands create stunning product photography with AI, eliminating the need for multiple tools that traditionally eat up to 20% of revenue like:
Photographers
Models
From creating ultra-realistic product shots with human models to editing existing photos, Caspa's all-in-one AI product photography platform handles everything from background removal to upscaling, letting brands produce professional marketing visuals in seconds. Whether you need custom stock photos or complete studio editing capabilities, Caspa streamlines the entire product visualization workflow into a single, cost-effective solution. Get AI product photos that increase your sales for free today!
How To Take Lifestyle Photos That Convert
Create a Master Plan for Lifestyle Photography
Lifestyle product photography makes your images pop by presenting products in real-life settings. Creating a master plan for lifestyle product photography helps you organize your shoot to capture photos that resonate with your target audience. Start by determining your potential audience. Who are you shooting for? This includes the age group, gender, lifestyle, profession, and interests of the people you’re trying to reach.
Tailoring Product Photography to Your Audience for Maximum Impact
Understanding your audience is crucial because it helps you make key decisions, such as:
Which products to showcase: If your target audience is younger adults (18 to 45), they might be interested in gadgets like Bluetooth speakers or PlayStation consoles.
What props to use: Props should complement the lifestyle I’m portraying, whether it’s a rugged beach vibe or a cozy home setup.
Where to shoot: The location should align with how your product fits into the lifestyle of my audience. Whether it’s a beach, park, or living room, the setting will make all the difference.
When I’m straightforward with my target audience, I better understand what products to showcase, what props to include, and how to design the shoot.
Show the Product in Use
One of the most powerful ways to capture attention in lifestyle product photography is by showing your product in action. A static shot of a product on a shelf can look lifeless. To truly bring the product to life, you should show how it fits into real-world scenarios.
Creating Relatable Product Photography: Showcasing Products in Action for Enhanced Engagement
For example, instead of just taking a photo of a Bluetooth speaker on a table, imagine this: The speaker is on a beach, surrounded by towels, with a group of people enjoying the music. To emphasize the speaker's rugged and waterproof features, you can capture it with water splashing out of its speaker grills. This adds dynamism to your shot and shows the product's capabilities in a way your audience can easily relate to. Setting the product in an environment where people can visualize themselves using it makes it far more enticing. The key here is relevance and reliability—this will drive conversion.
Choose the Right Product, Props, and Tools
Choosing the right product to shoot is a no-brainer, but props and tools are where many photographers either excel or fall short. Props aren’t just fillers; they add context and help tell the story. For instance, if you’re shooting a cozy home decor item, props like soft blankets or a warm cup of coffee can help create that inviting, relaxed atmosphere.
The tools you use will impact the quality of your photos. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a beginner, having the right camera, lenses, and accessories like reflectors, tripods, and lighting tools will take your lifestyle photos to the next level. If you want to upgrade your gear, check out reviews on the best camera brands and reflectors to ensure you have the proper setup for your shoot.
Keep an Eye on the Best Angles
The angle at which you photograph your product plays a huge role in its perception. Different angles highlight different features and can dramatically change the mood of a shot.
Here are some of the best angles to consider:
Straight-eye angle: This is the most natural angle, capturing the product as we see it. It's excellent for straightforward, clean product shots.
Bird’s-eye angle: Shooting from above gives a unique, flat-lay perspective. It's perfect for flat products or when you want to show the environment around the product.
Down angle: Shooting from below can emphasize a product’s height or depth, adding a sense of power or grandeur.
Slant angle: A slightly tilted shot adds an edge to your product, making it dynamic and engaging.
Experimenting with different angles can bring a fresh perspective to your lifestyle photos and make your product stand out.
Editing Software is the Backbone of Your Photos
Once you've captured your lifestyle shots, it's time to refine them with the magic of editing. Professional photo editing software like Caspa, Adobe Lightroom CC, and Adobe Photoshop can elevate your photos from good to excellent. These tools allow you to adjust lighting, correct colors, sharpen details and add final touches like logos or credits. While a raw, unedited photo might be acceptable in some contexts, polished, professional editing is what separates your work from competitors. For businesses, especially eCommerce businesses, investing in professional photo editing services can ensure your photos look their best and help boost conversion rates.
Look at What Your Competitors Are Doing
To master lifestyle photography, it’s essential to understand the trends your competitors are following. Analyzing what’s working in your niche lets you see which angles, lenses, and styles are gaining traction. Are your competitors using wide-angle lenses for an immersive feel? Or are they opting for tighter shots that focus on intricate details? You’ll ensure your photos stand out by staying informed and up-to-date with industry trends. Staying ahead of the curve regarding visual trends is key to keeping your photography fresh, relevant, and effective in driving sales.
Related Reading
• Types of Product Photography
• Product Photography Setup
• Product Photography Ideas
• DIY Product Photography Setup
• Product Photography Examples
8 Lifestyle Product Photography Tips You Should Work With
1. Invest in a Great Camera or Smartphone for LifeStyle Product Photography
High-resolution images, including lifestyle photography, are the first requirement for any product photography. Therefore, using a good-quality camera to capture high-quality product images is mandatory.
On that note, you should use a mirrorless or DSLR camera because of the fantastic benefits it offers, which include:
Larger sensors allow more light into the camera, which results in higher-quality images
Manual camera settings that will enable adjusting the settings depending on different lighting conditions
Different lenses, such as prime, wide-angle, telephoto, macro, etc. can be used interchangeably
Supports a wide range of accessories, such as a filter to regulate the amount of light entering the camera
Supports stable mounting on a tripod or a c stand to guarantee sharp images.
If you're on a tight budget, you can shoot with your smartphone instead of spending money on expensive cameras. For instance, the camera quality of iPhones is quite admirable. The most recent iPhone models have software and camera lenses that are incredibly powerful and offer features that are comparable to those found in DSLR cameras. You can take high-resolution photos with them, film in 4K, and more!
2. Use Props to Emphasize Quality
Props are often considered an extraneous or distracting aspect of a photograph. They serve a great purpose in product photography, especially lifestyle product photoshoots. Carefully chosen complementary props help with visual storytelling by adding context and mood to the products, turning an abstract concept into a fascinating idea.
Props can emphasize key features, show a product’s or its ingredients’ use, or convey other significant visual messages. They can also add energy, emotion, and life to the products. Take Blanka's lifestyle photo, for example. We utilized deep, rich vase colors to contrast with the rouge shade of a popular product - liquid lipstick.
3. Hire a Model
The best strategy for helping the target clients connect with the product is to include a human element. Besides, the use of models can add a sense of practicality. In other words, if customers see a person using cosmetics, clothing, or walking around in a pair of shoes, they will undoubtedly believe that the products are:
Safe
High-quality
Comfortable
Using models doesn't necessarily mean paying for high-end professional models. You can ask your family members or friends to be models for your product. If they feel uncomfortable showing their face on camera, you can use them as a parts model and only show off certain body parts, such as their:
Hands
Feet
Neck
4. Shoot From Unique Angles
Unique and uncommon sights stuck in people's memories for a long time. Why not use this to your advantage and show your products from unusual perspectives that customers don't usually see? Experiment with your products to find unique perspectives from which they can be shot to enhance their visual appeal. Nevertheless, be careful not to distort the appearance of your product while experimenting.
5. Choose the Right Backdrop
A visually appealing background has the power to make your products stand out. Most lifestyle shoots occur in eye-catching, exotic natural locations, influence the product’s appearance and grab customers’ attention more easily. White or neutral backgrounds are a safe choice for indoor photo shoots, as products pop out best in them and look aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Also, textured backgrounds can be used to enhance your products. Choose the right backdrop and use natural lighting for beauty product photography.
6. Use Natural Lighting
Natural lighting is the best technique for making the products appear authentic and trustworthy. Soft, subtle sunlight in the morning and evening increases the beauty of the products and makes them look aesthetically pretty. Use diffusers like sheer white curtains and reflectors like white cardboard to balance the intensity of the light. Avoid taking photos in the bright sun, as its harsh light casts dark shadows that can detract from the image's aesthetic appeal.
7. Use Color Psychology
Different colors evoke moods within the human mind, proving certain connections between color and human behavior. While complementary colors combine a product with other elements in the composition, contrasting colors make the product distinctive from:
The props
Background
Other components
So, choose the colors that work best for the story you want to tell using color psychology.
8. Retouch Lifestyle Product Photos
No matter how high-quality your camera, lens, or lighting setup is, photos must be edited before posting online. The most frequent retouching tasks for product photos are adjusting:
White balance
Color correction
Erasing blemishes
Wrinkles
Other imperfections
You can certainly handle the retouching on your own if you have expertise in using photo editing software, for instance:
Photoshop
Lightroom
Pixlr
GIMP, etc.
It is better to do the retouching by a professional photo editor to get professional-quality lifestyle product photos.
10 Lifestyle Product Photography Ideas
1. Product in Action/Use: Capturing a Lifestyle Product in Use in Lifestyle Photography
Regarding lifestyle photography, capturing a product in use is one of the most common ways to showcase an item. Yet, a few things to consider before diving into a product in action lifestyle photos.
Who is the target audience for this product?
How do people use it?
Which type of setup suits it best?
Once you know the answer, organize a scene as close as possible. For example, if your products are skincare, you can capture a shot of a model using them.
2. Create a Story: Why You Should Build a Scene Around Your Lifestyle Product Photography
Want to evoke emotion? Dig a bit deeper by creating an ambient that tells a story. For that, you need props to decorate the scene. Let’s say you are shooting candle products. You can create a setting, have a cake, and light candles to show that the fulfillment candles bring to birthday celebrations.
3. Include a Pet: The Benefits of Adding Pets in Product Photography
How about leaving an attached string on your photo? Include a pet in your scene. You know there are many pet lovers, and having one in your images attracts the target audience and onlookers.
4. Add Playfulness or Fun to the Scene: Capturing Lifestyle Product Photography with a Twist
Want to take some out-of-the-box shots for your products? Add funny activities, playfulness, or some uncommon scene to make it look candid photos. Let’s say you have been assigned to food photography; apart from the flat lay and bird’s eye photography, you can capture children playing with food or a picnic scene.
5. Allow Product-Appropriate Models: How to Choose the Right Models for Lifestyle Product Photos
To enliven your subject material, take advantage of product-appropriate models. Lifestyle product photography with models helps people understand the products better than plain images. Having humans, such images have a higher engagement rate, as they help visualize the customers about the products’ usability in their lives.
6. Reflection in Vision: Product Photography with Reflection
E-commerce products need a boost in their looks to make them appealing to viewers. Reflection photos are another type of photography that you can do to create an aesthetic view of your subject. It enhances the perspective and offers a glamorous look for the product.
7. Display Emotions: How to Capture Lifestyle Product Photography that Evokes Feelings
Do you know what top brands say about selling? They don’t sell products; they sell feelings for yourself or your loved ones. It can be a feeling of:
Looking good
Feeling healthy
Relaxation
Happiness
Comfort
Security
Caring
Try capturing shots that bring feelings through the product images. Product photography in such a scenario is bound to capture people’s attention.
8. Take Fashionable and Trendy Images: Capture Lifestyle Product Photography that is in Style
This goes without saying. Few can but glance at a fashionista. Our curiosity gets the best when we see someone dressed nicely or fashionably. So, regardless of the product, you can always have it included in the frame.
9. Display the Time and Season: How to Use Seasonal Changes to Your Advantage in Lifestyle Product Photography
Does the product relate to any time and season? If yes, that’s a great chance. You can shoot many scenes based solely on that particular time and season. Make sure to include it as vividly as possible. This will help fulfil the purpose most authentically.
10. Let the Product Float: Create Artistic Lifestyle Product Photography by Making Products Appear as if They are Floating
Let your product photos float to make them artistic. Use thread or put the product on top of something to keep it steady. Floating products trick viewers’ eyes and help awaken their curiosity.
Get AI Product Photos that Increase Your Sales for Free Today
Caspa is an all-in-one AI product photography platform that can help eCommerce brands create lifestyle photography and product visualizations quickly and easily. Instead of hiring models, photographers, and editors, eCommerce brands can generate their lifestyle product photography with Caspa's AI technology for ultra-realistic results.
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